Enhanced multimedia capabilites in video conferencing

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to video conferencing and multimedia messaging, and takes advantage of the capabilities of the communication system to which the audio participants are connected, in order to increase the performance of all the participants in a mixed conference. In a preferred embodiment, the audio participants are provided with a MMS device, and a MMS Engine captures periodically, or at certain events, video conference data attached to MMS messages and addressed to the MMS device. In the opposite direction, the MMS device provides multimedia data to the conventional video conference participants by attaching the multimedia data to MMS messages, which are sent to the IP-addressable MMS Engine. The MMS Engine separates the multimedia data and converts it to a format compatible with the video conference. The converted multimedia data is then provided to video conference participants, and treated like any other multimedia stream included in the video conference.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present continuation application claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. 120 to application Ser. No. 10/971,030, filed on Oct.25, 2004, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 fromNorwegian Patent Application number 20034775, filed on Oct. 24, 2003,and the entire contents of both of which are hereby incorporated hereinby reference. The present application contains subject matter related topending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/699,849, filed Nov. 4, 2003,pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/699,850, filed Nov. 4, 2003,pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/724,043, filed Dec. 1, 2003,pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/722,479, filed Nov. 28, 2003,pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/819,108, filed Apr. 7, 2004,pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/831,158, filed Apr. 26, 2004,pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/871,026, filed Jun. 21, 2004, andpending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/880,460, filed Jul. 1, 2004, andthe entire contents of each are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to video conferencing and multimediamessaging.

DISCUSSION OF THE BACKGROUND

In order to have a meeting involving participants not located in thesame area, a number of technological systems are available. Thesesystems may include video conferencing, web conferencing and audioconferencing.

The most realistic substitute for real meetings is high-end videoconferencing systems. Conventional video conferencing systems comprise anumber of end-points communicating real-time video, audio and/or datastreams over WAN, LAN and/or circuit switched networks. The end-pointsinclude one or more monitors, cameras, microphones and/or data capturedevices and a codec, which encodes and decodes outgoing and incomingstreams, respectively. In addition, a centralized source, known as aMultipoint Control Unit (MCU), is needed to link the multiple end-pointstogether. The MCU performs this linking by receiving the multimediasignals (audio, video and/or data) from end-point terminals overpoint-to-point connections, processing the received signals, andretransmitting the processed signals to selected end-point terminals inthe conference.

The different conferencing systems are, however, not isolated from eachother.

Different conferencing technologies now seem to merge, as conferencemeetings are getting more common and conference technology evolves. Itis not unusual to find complete web or audio participants in atraditional video conference.

However, audio and web participants will not achieve the full benefit ofthe conferencing capabilities when joining a traditional videoconference, because of both end-point and system limitations. Audioparticipants are not able to see the other participants, or datapresentations, in the conference, while the video participants are notnecessarily even aware of the presence of the audio participants. Thelatter is sometimes solved by showing an audio participant icon insteadof a picture in the video image to indicate that an audio participant ispresent. This, however, provides little or no information about theparticipant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device, computerprogram product, and a method allowing audio participants in aconventional video conference to achieve increased performance of theconference.

In particular, embodiments of the present invention describe a MMSEngine adjusted to adopt MMS capabilities into a video conference,including one or more video participants associated with a respectivevideo conferencing End Point, and one or more audio participantsassociated with a respective MMS device. The MMS Engine includes acapturing means configured to capture video conferencing data from adata source originating from one or more video conferencing End Points.A conversion means is configured to convert the video conferencing datato an appropriate format. A message generating means is configured toattach the converted video conferencing data to a message, and to insertinto the message an address associated with the respective MMS device. Atransmission means is configured to transmit the message according tothe inserted address. For the purpose of transmitting multimedia data inthe opposite direction, the MMS Engine includes MMS receiving meansconfigured to receive an MMS message from the respective MMS device andseparate attached multimedia data. A conversion means is configured toconvert the multimedia data to a format compatible with the videoconference, and a transmission means is configured to provide saidconverted multimedia data to the respective video conferencing EndPoint.

The present invention also provides methods and computer programproducts directed to the capabilities of the MMS Engine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to make the invention more readily understandable, thediscussion that follows will refer to the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts the format of an MMS message;

FIG. 2 depicts a conventional MMS architecture;

FIG. 3 depicts video conference architecture connected to a part of aconventional MMS architecture;

FIG. 4 depicts an MMS Engine according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 5 depicts a computer system upon which an embodiment of the presentinvention may be implemented.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, the present invention will be discussed by describinga preferred embodiment, and by referring to the accompanying drawings.However, people skilled in the art will realize other applications andmodifications of the present invention.

The present invention takes advantage of the capabilities of thecommunication system to which the audio participants are connected, toincrease the performance of all the participants in a mixed conference.There are many multimedia features in digital communication networks. Anexample is the Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) standardized by thethird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

MMS has evolved from the popularity of the SMS messaging system, and isusing the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is a protocol thatpermits mobile devices to communicate with Internet servers via themobile radio communications network. Since displays on mobile devicesare much smaller (typically, 150×150 pixels) than computer monitordisplays (typically, at least 640×480 pixels), a website designed to bedisplayed on a computer monitor cannot be displayed on a mobile devicewith any practicality. Also, mobile devices have considerably lessprocessing power than personal computers.

Accordingly, WAP was developed to allow mobile devices to access specialInternet sites designed to be displayed on a mobile device, and toprovide an interface between the mobile device and the Internet. MMS,however, is a standard for sending and receiving multimedia messages.The multimedia messages can include any combination of formatted text,images, photographs, audio and video clips. The images can be in anystandard format such as GIF and JPEG. Video formats such as MPEG4 andaudio formats such as MP3 and MIDI are also supported by MMS.

The typical format of a MMS message is illustrated in FIG. 1. The MMSmessage includes headers 1. The headers 1 provide the routinginformation and addresses of the recipients and senders of the MMSmessage. The message body includes the multimedia message, which in turnmay include: images which may be in the form of JPEG, formatted or plaintext; audio which may be in the form of a wave file; video which may bein the form of a MPEG file, and may optionally include a presentationfile which presents the multimedia content to the recipient of themultimedia message.

An illustration of the MMS traffic routing sequence in a traditionalpeer-to-peer MMS routing is shown in FIG. 2. A user of a mobile devicehas an MMS message that the user would like to send to another mobiledevice. The mobile device sends the MMS message to a MMS server via PLMNX. The MMS server routes messages through the Internet using SMTP and ane-mail address. Since the message sent by the mobile device wasaddressed to the recipient's MSISDN number, the MMS server mustdetermine the address of the recipient's MMS server in order to routethe multimedia message to the recipient's MMS server. If the MMS serveris able to identify the MMS server of the recipient's mobile device byits MSISDN number, the multimedia message is routed to the recipientsMMS server via the Internet, using SMTP and an e-mail address of therecipient's MMS server. The MMS server then sends a multimedia messagenotification to a Push Access Protocol (PAP) server. The PAP server is aPush Gateway for pushing messages to the mobile device, using the WAPforum standard. The PAP server sends a notification to the mobile devicevia a second Public Land Mobile Network Y (PLMN Y). The recipient'smobile device pulls the MMS message from MMS server via PLMN Y. Inresponse to the mobile device's pull, the MMS server routes themultimedia message to the recipient's mobile device via the PLMN Y. Themultimedia message is received in the mobile device where it can bepresented, played, or displayed to a user of the mobile device.

The basics of the present invention are to utilize the architecture andmultimedia capabilities of the MMS system in order to improve theperformance and benefits of the audio participants in a videoconference. One preferred embodiment is depicted in FIG. 3. Compared tothe architecture of FIG. 2, the left-hand side MMS infrastructureassociated with one of the peers, is replaced with a video conferencingsystem. The system includes a first number of End Points (EP) with anassociated first MCU1 connected to a Local Area Network (LAN), which inturn is connected to a Network server being an embedded Gatewaysupplemented with an MMS Engine. A second number of EPs with anassociated second MCU2 are also in communication with the Network serverthrough an ISDN line.

The EPs, MCUs and Gateway operate in the video conferencing system likeconventional video conferencing nodes. The EPs captures multimedia data,encode the data, and forward it to further processing in the MCUs. Theprocessing in the MCUs provides mixing of video, and prepares a codedmultimedia data signal that is being sent to each of the participatingconferencing EPs, which in turn decode the multimedia data signal andpresent it to the respective users. The Gateway provides communicationbetween EPs and MCUs operating at different protocols. The mostimportant task of a Gateway is to convert the multimedia data dedicatedfor transmission over ISDN to multimedia data dedicated to IPtransmission. The Gateway is conventionally used for connecting a LAN toan external ISDN connection, allowing enterprise EPs to communicate withexternal EPs.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Gateway isincorporated in a Network server, also including an MMS Engine,providing increased performance of audio participants in a videoconference. It will become apparent from the following description thatbecause the MMS Engine and the Gateway have some similarcharacteristics, they are installed in the same node. As an example,both the MMS Engine and the Gateway provide protocol conversion, andthey are both appropriately placed in the boundary between a local and apublic communication network.

The MMS Engine provides conversion of video conference content to aconventional MMS content, which is to be transmitted to one or moreaudio participants using, e.g., a cellular phone adjusted to receive MMSmessages. The MMS Engine also provides conversion of MMS content,received from one or more audio participants, to a format that isapplicable for the video conference in which the audio participant(s)take(s) part.

One embodiment of the MMS Engine is illustrated in FIG. 4. On theleft-hand side of the data bus, several temporary I/O memories areshown, respectively associated with media data of conventional videoconferencing format, in addition to a Controller and a Processor. On theright-hand side of the data bus, several temporary I/O memories are alsoshown, each associated with a respective field in a typical MMS messageformat, in addition to an MMS message I/O memory.

Focusing now on the first mentioned direction of conversion, considerthe video conference is currently viewing a video picture captured fromEP1 transmitted to all the other participants. The coded video pictureis routed via MCU 1 and through the IP Network to the Network Server. Inthe Network server, the coded video picture is decoded providing a videopicture of a conventional video conferencing format like QCIF, CIF or4CIF.

The MMS Engine is configured to capture a snapshot of the video pictureat certain predefined time intervals, or at certain events, i.e.,selecting one of the images in the stream of still images constitutingthe video picture. This is implemented in the images consecutively beingstored in a temporary memory, either in the Video I/O Memory, or in theData I/O Memory of the MMS Engine, whose content is fetched at theactual moment of snapshot capturing, and forwarded to the Processor viathe data bus. The actual time of fetching is controlled by theController. The processor determines the original format of the image,and converts the content to a JPEG format according to a pre-storedalgorithm. The conversion may also include scaling of the picture foradjusting the size to a small screen. The Controller further conveys theJPEG image to the JPEG memory, and when the time has come to transmit anMMS message to one or more audio participants, a MMS message is createdby the processor according to the format depicted in FIG. 1, whosecontent is decided by the Controller. The address of the MMSrecipient(s) is/are inserted in the MMS header, and as the complete MMSmessage is put in the MMS I/O memory, the MMS message with the snapshotfrom EP1 in JPEG format is ready for transmission to the MMS server(s),with which the recipient(s) is/are associated.

The address inserted in the MMS header is an e-mail address. The MMSmessage is routed to the MMS server in the conventional way using SMTP,and the MMS content is pulled from the MMS server(s) to therecipient(s). The MMS e-mail addresses of participating audioparticipants must be stored in the Address memory at conference set-up,or when new audio participant with MMS capabilities enters an on-goingconference.

Note that the snapshot is not limited to include content from one singleparticipant, but can also include so-called CP pictures (ContinuousPresence), which is a mix of pictures from several participants. Alsonote that the image attached to the MMS message is not limited to acertain format or a still picture, but can also be a video sequence,e.g. in MPEG format. The video sequences could be fetched directly fromthe Video I/O memory, or generated by fetching and merging stillpictures.

Turning now to the opposite direction of the MMS flow, consider that thevideo conference is currently viewing a Continuous Presence (CP) viewincluding a video picture of all the participants, except for thereceiver of the CP, and a regularly updated still picture captured bythe only audio participant in the video conference. The audioparticipant is provided with a cellular phone with MMS capabilities, anda camera. When the audio participant enters into the conference, it isprovided with an e-mail address associated with the conference and/orthe Network server. The e-mail address may be transmitted from theNetwork Server as a MMS message (e.g. as the transmitting address, or“return path”, of the first MMS message including video conference datatransmitted in the opposite direction), and may be intended for manualuse, or may be automatically inserted into the memory of the cellularphone for later use during the conference. E-mail addresses and/or otherdata may also be exchanged between the network server and the cellularphone/MMS server by means of a proprietary signalling protocol duringcall set-up.

When a call is set up from the cellular phone to the conference, apicture is captured by the camera associated with the cellular phone,and inserted into an MMS message addressed to the conference. The MMSmessage is then transmitted to the Network Server via the MMS serverthrough the Internet by means of SMTP. When receiving the MMS message, aconference ID is either provided by investigating the e-mail address, orby investigating the transmitter address found in the MMS header. TheMMS message is inserted in the MMS I/O memory, and the Controllerinitiates the Processor to separate the different media elementsincluded in the message, and inserts them in the respective memories.The JPEG picture now residing in the JPEG memory is then converted to aproper format used in the CP view of the conference, and inserted intothe Video or Data I/O memory. The picture is fetched from the memory,then coded and transmitted to the MCU mixing the CP views of theconference, according to the earlier provided conference ID. The MCUthen inserts the still picture, originally captured by the cellularphone, in the sixth CP field, together with the five other videopictures. An alternative to conversion could be to transmit themultimedia data separated from the MMS message directly to the MCU orthe video conferencing End Points. This would require that the receiverwas IP-addressable, for e.g. pushing out the multimedia data.

In the case of viewing audio participants by the same still pictureduring the whole conference, it might be convenient to reuse earlierreceived pictures in order to reduce transmission time and costs. Forthis purpose, a picture received from a certain audio participantregistered in a directory connected to an End-Point or a managementtool, could be stored in the directory together with other informationabout the participant. When the audio participant later on participatesin a conference which includes the video conferencing device with thedirectory, the corresponding picture can be fetched out and used forviewing the audio participant, without having to retransmit the picture.

The above described embodiment of the present invention represents anMMS Engine implemented together with, or incorporated in, a Gateway.However, the MMS Engine does not necessarily have to be connected to aGateway, but could also be stand-alone device, or incorporated in othervideo conferencing nodes, like in a MCU, or in the End Points. It couldalso be a part of a Management Tool associated with the videoconferencing system. In any case, the MMS Engine, or a node in which itis incorporated in or connected to, has to be addressable according tothe Internet Protocol. Further, the description also focuses oncapturing and transmitting still pictures between a video conference andone or more audio participants with multimedia capabilities. However,the multimedia content is not limited to still pictures, but can alsoconsist of video, text and/or audio, in which case, it is distributed inthe respective memories in the MMS Engine at conversion. In addition, itis possible to incorporate more than one MMS engine into the abovedescribed embodiments.

The present invention also includes an aspect wherein the multimediadata is transferred to MMS capable audio participants by means ofe-mails. In the MMS Engine, the multimedia data is in this case attachedto a conventional e-mail after conversion, which is transmitted to theMMS device via the MMS server. How the MMS server and device handle thee-mail is operator dependent, but it is a well-known fact thattransmitting an e-mail to a MMS device is allowed; addressing the e-mailwith phonenumber@domain. The MMS device will receive the e-mail as a MMSmessage, in which the e-mail text and the attachments are inserted inthe MMS entries.

As already indicated, a snapshot or other multimedia content may becaptured and transferred at predefined points of time, or at certainevents. In one embodiment, such an event occurs at the time when aconsiderable change in the content of the source picture (video or stillpicture), from which present snapshot originates, is detected. Thedetection may take place e.g. in the Network server illustrated in FIG.3. According to one embodiment of this aspect of the invention, thepreviously transmitted snapshot is stored in the Network server, and thesnapshot is continuously compared to the source picture. The comparisonmay be carried through in a pixel-by-pixel fashion, or one or morevalues associated with the snapshot may be compared with one or morecorresponding values associated with the source picture. When thedifference(s) between the values is/are more than (a) predefinedthreshold(s), transmission of a new snapshot to the one or more audioparticipants is initiated. This means that the Controller of FIG. 4enables reading from the Video or Data I/O memory via the data bus tothe processor, which in turn converts the snapshot from present formatto JPEG, then inserting the JPEG image into the JPEG memory.

One event that could trigger a new snapshot transmission is a page shiftin a presentation. Another example is when voice switching is active,and the floor is shifting. A completely different image will then occuras the main video picture in the conference, and a new snapshottransmission will be initiated.

Alternatively to the event-initiated snapshot (or other multimedia data)capturing new snapshots could also be transmitted periodically;capturing the first snapshot at call set-up. Transmission of multimediadata in the opposite direction, from the audio participant(s) to thevideo conference, could be initiated accordingly, but the decisionmechanism is likely to be implemented in the MMS device or somewhereelse in the MMS or cellular network architecture. In case ofimplementing the decision mechanism in the MMS device, some proprietarysoftware would have to be installed.

There are also other reasons for installing tailored software in acellular phone, providing it with enhanced possibilities forparticipating in a conventional video conference. In order to increasethe performance and benefits for audio participants, achieving theenhanced MMS features of the present invention should be as intuitiveand little exhausting as possible. The participation would beinconvenient if the user has to manually transmit and receive picturesduring the conference. Thus, according to the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, the MMS device is configured with softwareallowing it to both send and receive signalling messages concerning thesnapshot capturing, transmission and reception, alternatively inaddition to merge content received at different points of time,providing continuity in the presentation of multimedia data from theconference. The software is adjusted to receive and store the e-mailaddress of the Network server/conference, and automatically fetches thisaddress and inserts it in the MMS header when transmitting multimediadata to the conference. The software is preferably installed asJava-scripts, as this is a flexible tool for providing small deviceswith tailored features. Additionally, most cellular phones and mobiledevices are now equipped with Java-technology.

Preferably, snapshot capturing at the video conferencing side shouldalso be possible to initiate, either manually or automatically, remotelyfrom an audio participant. In the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the software installed in the cellular phone is thereforeconfigured to be able to generate and transmit a request for snapshotcapturing to the Network server. In response, the MMS Engine captures asnapshot (or other multimedia data) from one of the I/O memory, convertsit to a proper format and returns the snapshot to the MMS device of theaudio participant.

In some cases, the multimedia content received at different times in theMMS device could benefit from merging the content together, and therebyproviding continuity in the data transmitted via MMS from the videoconference. For example, a real-time video presentation could be createdfrom a number of snapshots, or video pieces, consecutively transmittedin separate MMS messages from the MMS Engine. The software is in thiscase also configured to consecutively receive and store the incomingmultimedia data, and to present it on the screen of the MMS device insuch a way that it appears to be a continuous video stream.

However, a real-time video presentation implies transmission of largeand/or many MMS messages, and will probably require a substantialbandwidth all the way to the audio participant. The bandwidthrequirement could, however, be reduced, instead of converting the videoconference pictures to a JPEG format in the MMS Engine, by coding thepictures according to standard or proprietary coding techniques, andinserting the respective encoded pictures in one of the entries in theMMS messages as general attachments. In this case, the software in thecellular phone also has to be configured to be able to decode theattachments in the MMS messages, according to the coding techniques usedby the MMS Engine.

The tasks of the software in the cellular phone described above wouldrequire some signalling and negotiation between the MMS device and theMMS Engine. This exchange of information could be inserted in the textor presentation fields (temporarily in the text or presentation memoryin the MMS Engine) of the MMS messages still being transmitted, creatinga virtual, separate signalling channel. This information may includesnapshot requests, type of events initiating snapshot capturing, andsynchronisation information.

The embodiments of the present invention appear in the description aboveas an MMS Engine integrating MMS capabilities in conventional videoconferencing. However, the basic idea of the present invention can alsobe embodied in an overall method. The method includes in one directioncapturing video conferencing data, e.g., a snapshot of the video pictureof one or more participant, or a CP picture, converting the data to aproper format, and inserting the converted data as an attachment in anMMS message. The MMS message is transmitted from an IP-addressabledevice to one or more MMS capable audio participants via the MMSinfrastructure. The audio participant fetches the video conferencingdata attached to the MMS message, and presents the data as a part of theconference in which the audio participant takes part.

In the opposite direction, the audio participant captures some kind ofmultimedia data, normally a still picture, or some other data presentingthe audio participant, and inserts the multimedia data into an MMSmessage. The MMS message is addressed and transmitted to anIP-addressable node connected to the video conferencing system. Theattachment is then fetched from the MMS message and converted to aproper video conferencing format. The converted multimedia data is thencoded and transmitted to one or more of the conventional videoconferencing participants, optionally subsequent to mixing it with datafrom other participants.

FIG. 5 illustrates a computer system 1201 upon which an embodiment ofthe present invention may be implemented. The computer system 1201includes a bus 1202 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, and a processor 1203 coupled with the bus 1202 forprocessing the information. The computer system 1201 also includes amain memory 1204, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamicstorage device (e.g., dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), andsynchronous DRAM (SDRAM)), coupled to the bus 1202 for storinginformation and instructions to be executed by processor 1203. Inaddition, the main memory 1204 may be used for storing temporaryvariables or other intermediate information during the execution ofinstructions by the processor 1203. The computer system 1201 furtherincludes a read only memory (ROM) 1205 or other static storage device(e.g., programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), and electricallyerasable PROM (EEPROM)) coupled to the bus 1202 for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processor 1203.

The computer system 1201 also includes a disk controller 1206 coupled tothe bus 1202 to control one or more storage devices for storinginformation and instructions, such as a magnetic hard disk 1207, and aremovable media drive 1208 (e.g., floppy disk drive, read-only compactdisc drive, read/write compact disc drive, compact disc jukebox, tapedrive, and removable magneto-optical drive). The storage devices may beadded to the computer system 1201 using an appropriate device interface(e.g., small computer system interface (SCSI), integrated deviceelectronics (IDE), enhanced-IDE (E-IDE), direct memory access (DMA), orultra-DMA).

The computer system 1201 may also include special purpose logic devices(e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)) or configurablelogic devices (e.g., simple programmable logic devices (SPLDs), complexprogrammable logic devices (CPLDs), and field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs)).

The computer system 1201 may also include a display controller 1209coupled to the bus 1202 to control a display 1210, such as a cathode raytube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. The computersystem includes input devices, such as a keyboard 1211 and a pointingdevice 1212, for interacting with a computer user and providinginformation to the processor 1203. The pointing device 1212, forexample, may be a mouse, a trackball, or a pointing stick forcommunicating direction information and command selections to theprocessor 1203 and for controlling cursor movement on the display 1210.In addition, a printer may provide printed listings of data storedand/or generated by the computer system 1201.

The computer system 1201 performs a portion or all of the processingsteps of the invention in response to the processor 1203 executing oneor more sequences of one or more instructions contained in a memory,such as the main memory 1204. Such instructions may be read into themain memory 1204 from another computer readable medium, such as a harddisk 1207 or a removable media drive 1208. One or more processors in amulti-processing arrangement may also be employed to execute thesequences of instructions contained in main memory 1204. In alternativeembodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions. Thus, embodiments are notlimited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

As stated above, the computer system 1201 includes at least one computerreadable medium or memory for holding instructions programmed accordingto the teachings of the invention and for containing data structures,tables, records, or other data described herein. Examples of computerreadable media are compact discs, hard disks, floppy disks, tape,magneto-optical disks, PROMs (EPROM, EEPROM, flash EPROM), DRAM, SRAM,SDRAM, or any other magnetic medium, compact discs (e.g., CD-ROM), orany other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, or other physicalmedium with patterns of holes, a carrier wave (described below), or anyother medium from which a computer can read.

Stored on any one or on a combination of computer readable media, thepresent invention includes software for controlling the computer system1201, for driving a device or devices for implementing the invention,and for enabling the computer system 1201 to interact with a human user(e.g., print production personnel). Such software may include, but isnot limited to, device drivers, operating systems, development tools,and applications software. Such computer readable media further includesthe computer program product of the present invention for performing allor a portion (if processing is distributed) of the processing performedin implementing the invention.

The computer code devices of the present invention may be anyinterpretable or executable code mechanism, including but not limited toscripts, interpretable programs, dynamic link libraries (DLLs), Javaclasses, and complete executable programs. Moreover, parts of theprocessing of the present invention may be distributed for betterperformance, reliability, and/or cost.

The term “computer readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to the processor 1203 forexecution. A computer readable medium may take many forms, including butnot limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmissionmedia. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical, magneticdisks, and magneto-optical disks, such as the hard disk 1207 or theremovable media drive 1208. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, suchas the main memory 1204. Transmission media includes coaxial cables,copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that make up the bus1202. Transmission media also may also take the form of acoustic orlight waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared datacommunications.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying outone or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 1203 forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions for implementing all or a portion of the present inventionremotely into a dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to the computer system 1201may receive the data on the telephone line and use an infraredtransmitter to convert the data to an infrared signal. An infrareddetector coupled to the bus 1202 can receive the data carried in theinfrared signal and place the data on the bus 1202. The bus 1202 carriesthe data to the main memory 1204, from which the processor 1203retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received bythe main memory 1204 may optionally be stored on storage device 1207 or1208 either before or after execution by processor 1203.

The computer system 1201 also includes a communication interface 1213coupled to the bus 1202. The communication interface 1213 provides atwo-way data communication coupling to a network link 1214 that isconnected to, for example, a local area network (LAN) 1215, or toanother communications network 1216 such as the Internet. For example,the communication interface 1213 may be a network interface card toattach to any packet switched LAN. As another example, the communicationinterface 1213 may be an asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL)card, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem toprovide a data communication connection to a corresponding type ofcommunications line. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any suchimplementation, the communication interface 1213 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

The network link 1214 typically provides data communication through oneor more networks to other data devices. For example, the network link1214 may provide a connection to another computer through a localnetwork 1215 (e.g., a LAN) or through equipment operated by a serviceprovider, which provides communication services through a communicationsnetwork 1216. The local network 1214 and the communications network 1216use, for example, electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals thatcarry digital data streams, and the associated physical layer (e.g., CAT5 cable, coaxial cable, optical fiber, etc). The signals through thevarious networks and the signals on the network link 1214 and throughthe communication interface 1213, which carry the digital data to andfrom the computer system 1201 maybe implemented in baseband signals, orcarrier wave based signals. The baseband signals convey the digital dataas unmodulated electrical pulses that are descriptive of a stream ofdigital data bits, where the term “bits” is to be construed broadly tomean symbol, where each symbol conveys at least one or more informationbits. The digital data may also be used to modulate a carrier wave, suchas with amplitude, phase and/or frequency shift keyed signals that arepropagated over a conductive media, or transmitted as electromagneticwaves through a propagation medium. Thus, the digital data may be sentas unmodulated baseband data through a “wired” communication channeland/or sent within a predetermined frequency band, different thanbaseband, by modulating a carrier wave. The computer system 1201 cantransmit and receive data, including program code, through thenetwork(s) 1215 and 1216, the network link 1214 and the communicationinterface 1213. Moreover, the network link 1214 may provide a connectionthrough a LAN 1215 to a mobile device 1217 such as a personal digitalassistant (PDA) laptop computer, or cellular telephone.

Numerous modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

1. An Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Engine configured to enable MMScapabilities in a video conference, including one or more videoparticipants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point,and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMSdevice, comprising: means for capturing video conferencing data from adata source originating from one or more video conferencing End Pointsor MCUs; means for converting said video conferencing data to a MMSattachable format; means for attaching said converted video conferencingdata to a MMS message; means for inserting into said MMS message anaddress associated with the respective MMS device; means fortransmitting said MMS message according to said inserted address; andmeans for initiating said means for capturing, converting, attaching,inserting and transmitting periodically or at a predefined event.
 2. TheMMS Engine according to claim 1, wherein said defined event occurs whena video source is changed, or when a difference between previouslycaptured video conferencing data and content generated from a datasource is larger than a predefined threshold.
 3. The MMS Engineaccording to claim 1, wherein said defined event occurs when a requestfor video conference data update is received from the respective MMSdevice.
 4. The MMS Engine according to claim 1, wherein said definedevent occurs when a video or audio participant leaves or enters thevideo conference.
 5. The MMS Engine according to claim 1, wherein thevideo conferencing data is inserted in a corresponding MMS entry in saidMMS message and said address is an address of a MMS server associatedwith said respective MMS device.
 6. The MMS Engine according to claim 1,wherein said video conferencing data is a snapshot.
 7. The MMS Engineaccording to claim 1, wherein said video conferencing data is a videosequence.
 8. The MMS Engine according to claim 6, wherein the videoconferencing data is merged in the respective MMS device, creatingreal-time video.
 9. The MMS Engine according to claim 1, wherein the MMSEngine is incorporated in, or connected to, a Gateway, an MCU or an EndPoint.
 10. An Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Engine configured toenable MMS capabilities in a video conference, including one or morevideo participants associated with a respective video conferencing EndPoint, and one or more audio participants associated with a respectiveMMS device, comprising: means for receiving a MMS message from therespective MMS device; means for separating multimedia data attached tothe MMS message; means for converting said multimedia data to a formatcompatible with the video conference; means for transmitting saidconverted multimedia data to the respective video conferencing EndPoint; and means for initiating said means for converting andtransmitting periodically or at a predefined event.
 11. The MMS Engineaccording to claim 10, wherein the determines that the MMS message isassociated with the video conference by investigating a sender, or areceiver address, included in the MMS message, from which a conferenceID of the video conference is found, and the means for transmittingtransmits the converted multimedia data to the video conferencing EndPoint according to the conference ID.
 12. The MMS Engine according toclaim 10, wherein the video conference involves an MCU through whichsaid converted multimedia data is transmitted prior to reaching saidrespective video conferencing End Point.
 13. The MMS Engine according toclaim 10, wherein said predefined event occurs when a difference betweenpreviously received multimedia data and corresponding multimedia datagenerated in the MMS device is larger than a predefined threshold. 14.The MMS Engine according to claim 10, wherein said predefined eventoccurs at a time when one or more video or audio participants leaves orenters the video conference.
 15. The MMS Engine according to claim 10,wherein said multimedia data is an image stored in the MMS device orcaptured by a camera connected to, or integrated in, the MMS device. 16.The MMS Engine according to claim 10, wherein said multimedia data is avideo sequence.
 17. The MMS Engine according to claim 15, wherein theconverted multimedia data is merged, creating real-time video.
 18. TheMMS Engine according to claim 10, wherein said converted multimedia datais treated as any other multimedia stream associated with the videoconference.
 19. The MMS Engine according to claim 10, wherein the MMSEngine is incorporated in, or connected to, a Gateway, an MCU or an EndPoint.
 20. A method enabling Multimedia Messaging System (MMS)capabilities in a video conference including one or more videoparticipants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point,and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMSdevice, comprising steps of: capturing, at an MMS engine, videoconferencing data from a data source originating from one or more videoconferencing End Points or MCUs; converting, at the MMS engine, saidvideo conferencing data to a MMS attachable format; attaching, at theMMS engine, said converted video conferencing data to a MMS message;inserting, at the MMS engine, into said MMS message an addressassociated with a respective MMS device; transmitting, at the MMSengine, said MMS message according to said inserted address; andinitiating, at the MMS engine, said steps of capturing, converting,attaching, inserting and transmitting periodically or at a predefinedevent.
 21. A method according to claim 20, wherein said step ofinserting further comprises: inserting the video conferencing data in acorresponding MMS entry in said MMS message, wherein said address is anaddress of an MMS server associated with said respective MMS device. 22.The method according to claim 20, wherein said video conferencing datais a snapshot.
 23. The method according to claim 20, wherein said videoconferencing data is a video sequence.
 24. The method according to claim20, further comprising a step of: merging video conferencing dataconsecutively being received in the respective MMS device creatingreal-time video.
 25. A method for enabling Multimedia Messaging System(MMS) capabilities in a video conference including one or more videoparticipants associated with a respective video conferencing End Point,and one or more audio participants associated with a respective MMSdevice, comprising steps of: receiving, at a MMS engine, a MMS messagefrom the respective MMS device; separating, at the MMS engine,multimedia data attached to the MMS message; converting, at the MMSengine, said multimedia data to a format compatible with the videoconference; transmitting, at the MMS engine, said converted multimediadata to the respective video conferencing End Point; and initiating, atthe MMS engine, said steps of converting and transmitting periodicallyor at a predefined event.
 26. The method according to claim 25, furthercomprising steps of: investigating a sender or a receiver addressincluded in the MMS message, from which a conference ID of the videoconference is found; and providing the converted multimedia data to thevideo conferencing End Point according to the conference ID.
 27. Themethod according to claim 25, wherein said multimedia data is an imagestored in the MMS device or captured by a camera connected to, orintegrated in, the MMS device.
 28. The method according to claim 25,wherein said multimedia data is a video sequence.
 29. The methodaccording to claim 25, further comprising a step of: merging theconverted multimedia data for creating real-time video.
 30. The methodaccording to claim 25, further comprising a step of: treating saidconverted multimedia data as any other multimedia stream associated withthe video conference.
 31. A video conferencing system comprising: aMultimedia Messaging System (MMS) engine configured to relay databetween a video conference end point and a MMS device, said MMS engineincluding, means for capturing video conferencing data from a datasource originating from the video conferencing end point, a first meansfor converting said video conferencing data to a MMS attachable format,means for attaching said converted video conferencing data to a firstMMS message, means for inserting into said MMS message an addressassociated with the MMS device, a first means for transmitting saidfirst MMS message according to said inserted address, means forreceiving a second MMS message from the MMS device, means for separatingmultimedia data attached to the second MMS message, a second means forconverting said multimedia data to a format compatible with the videoconference, a second means for transmitting said converted multimediadata to the video conferencing end point, and means for initiating saidmeans for capturing, said first means for converting, said second meansfor converting, said means for attaching, said means for inserting, saidfirst means for transmitting, and said second means for transmittingperiodically or at a predefined event.
 32. The video conference systemof claim 31, further comprising: said MMS device, and said videoconference end point.
 33. A method for enabling a Multimedia MessagingSystem (MMS) engine to relay data between a video conference end pointand a MMS device, said MMS engine performing steps of: capturing, at theMMS engine, video conferencing data from a data source originating froma video conferencing end point; converting, at the MMS engine, saidvideo conferencing data to a MMS attachable format; attaching, at theMMS engine, said converted video conferencing data to a first MMSmessage; inserting, at the MMS engine, into said MMS message an addressassociated with the MMS device; transmitting, at the MMS engine, saidfirst MMS message according to said inserted address; receiving, at theMMS engine, a second MMS message from the MMS device; separating, at theMMS engine, multimedia data attached to the second MMS message;converting, at the MMS engine, said multimedia data to a formatcompatible with the video conference; transmitting, at the MMS engine,said converted multimedia data to the video conferencing end point; andinitiating, at the MMS engine, said steps of capturing, converting,attaching, inserting, and transmitting, periodically or at a predefinedevent.
 34. An electronic memory device encoded with instructions forexecution on a computer system, which when executed by the computersystem, causes the computer system to perform the method recited inclaim
 20. 35. An electronic memory device encoded with instructions forexecution on a computer system, which when executed by the computersystem, causes the computer system to perform the method recited inclaim
 25. 36. An electronic memory device encoded with instructions forexecution on a computer system, which when executed by the computersystem, causes the computer system to perform the method recited inclaim 33.